AMENDING SECTION 12 OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT: CONSIDERING PUBLIC INTEREST AS A FACTOR IN CABINET’S DECISIONS ON PETITIONS

Abstract

This article examines the underdeveloped role of public interest considerations in Cabinet’s review of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (“CRTC”) decisions under section 12 of the Telecommunications Act ("the Act"). While the statute permits industry actors, advocacy groups, and the public to petition Cabinet, there is no statutory obligation for the Governor in Council to evaluate or explicitly address public interest submissions. This legislative gap risks conflating economic and societal interests, limiting transparency, and undermining democratic accountability in telecommunications governance.

Using Bell Canada’s 2024 petition to rescind the CRTC’s fibre-to-the-home (“FTTH”) interim order as a case study, this article considers this issue within the broader history of section 12 petitions and prior experiences where advocacy voices were marginalized. This article also draws comparative insight from other regulatory frameworks, including the Impact Assessment Act and the Competition Act, both of which employ factor-based regimes that explicitly enumerate decision-making criteria. By contrast, Cabinet’s telecommunications decisions often lack reasoned engagement with non-industry submissions, raising concerns about accessibility, a "ordability, and the long-term resilience of Canada’s telecommunications policies.